Missing in action? EU sees its soft power wane

As the European Union's foreign ministers met recently in a baroque palace in Malta, Finland's top diplomat quipped that despite the grandeur of their surroundings, they were all merely "doctors and welders," trying "to sew things up" in the world.

Such despondency at Europe's global influence has become all too common as the 28-country bloc struggles to cope with Brexit, an unprecedented migrant crisis in its own backyard and a rise in anti-EU populism that has bolstered authoritarian, nationalist-minded leaders across the region.

While US-led NATO has long shouldered the military burden in Europe, the economically powerful EU has been able to boast of a "soft power" with recent diplomatic successes ranging from its role in brokering the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, winning a detente with Cuba and inspiring a pro-EU uprising in Ukraine.

But some ministers and...

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